The much respected Criterion Collection has adopted and will release Wes Anderson’s only stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, come February 18th. As is standard with Criterion, the new Blu-ray comes jam packed with bonus features including ‘making-of’ footage that will fascinate stop-motion lovers.
- Digital master, approved by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary featuring Anderson
- Storyboard animatic for the entire film
- Footage of the actors voicing their characters, puppet construction, stop-motion setups, and the recording of the score
- Interviews with cast and crew
- Puppet animation tests
- Photo gallery of puppets, props, and sets
- Animated awards acceptance speeches
- Audio recording of author Roald Dahl reading the book on which the film is based
- Fantastic Mr. Dahl, an hour-long 2005 documentary about the author
- Gallery of Dahl’s original manuscripts
- Discussion and analysis of the film
- Stop-motion Sony robot commercial by Anderson
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Erica Wagner; a 2002 article on Dahl’s Gipsy House by Anderson; White Cape, a comic book used as a prop in the film; and drawings, original paintings, and other ephemera
Here is a lovely by The Playlist trailer for this particular release of the film:
And for those of you who would like to see the original trailer:
While I’m certain most people will be super excited about this, there seems to be a general lack of animation in The Criterion Collection. It also seems notable that though Wes Anderson is a very accomplished director with various other works in the collection, that his animated film would get pushed to the front of the line versus other animated works, particularly after noting the The Criterion has not released an animated film since Akira in 1993. Is this a Wes Anderson bias? Or just more proof that people in the business regard animation as child’s play? Furthermore, if you were to introduce any animated work into The Criterion Collection, what work would you chose?